Butterfield-Odin School Board approves purchase of van

In what was a short meeting Jan. 22, the Butterfield-Odin School Board voted unanimously to purchase a Town and Country Van for $8,100 which will be available for student purposes.

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By Tyson HillNews Writer - St. James PlaindealerTwitter: @plaindlrTysonEmail: plaindlr@stjamesnews.com

St. James Plaindealer - St. James, MN

By Tyson HillNews Writer - St. James PlaindealerTwitter: @plaindlrTysonEmail: plaindlr@stjamesnews.com

Posted Jan. 27, 2013 at 8:00 AM

By Tyson HillNews Writer - St. James PlaindealerTwitter: @plaindlrTysonEmail: plaindlr@stjamesnews.com

Posted Jan. 27, 2013 at 8:00 AM

St. James Plaindealer

In what was a short meeting Jan. 22, the Butterfield-Odin School Board voted unanimously to purchase a Town and Country Van for $8,100 which will be available for student purposes.

“I like the fact that we have until 2020 to use the van for students and I like the price,” said Butterfield-Odin School Board Member Kristin Haseman.

The school board has been shopping around in the search for a van for some time, so this decision came without much discussion.

Superintendent Lisa Shellum reported to the board that Diane Peterson received an award for 300 hours of service training as the chairman of Riverbend. These 300 hours of service have come over a short period of time.

The construction which has been taking place in the Butterfield-Odin School is now complete. Students now enjoy new flooring and an updated cafeteria as well as redone panelling and eight new Mac computers in the computer lab. The restrooms are scheduled to be completely remodelled by March 1, 2013. Restrooms will include a handicap-capable facility.

Butterfield-Odin School Board and St. James High School are continuing to work together on football conference issues. The board is excited moving forward and feels the sports pairing is going really well. There will be a sports pairing meeting at Armstrong School in St. James Feb. 27, at 5 p.m.

School board members were given a packet to outline some goals for their next term. The board is working proactively in collaboration with one another to continue moving forward in their professional development and making Butterfield-Odin a competitive and thriving school.

“All of us will be working together to find out what the heartbeat of Butterfield-Odin is,” said Shellum.

Butterfield-Odin school board members are excited about the spelling bee scheduled for Feb. 1, at 12:40 p.m. Dawn Johnson will supervise the event and the winner from the seventh or eighth grade class will move on to the next round at South Central College.

Shellum reported she had received some good news from the Department of Education regarding testing and positive growth ratings for Butterfield Odin.

“We were one of the schools in the state that made high gains of growth in the medium and high ranges during testing,” said Shellum.

These gains can be attributed to the practice tests instituted in math and good improvements from the teaching staff at Butterfield-Odin School.

The week of Jan. 14-18 is paraprofessional week. Certificates were given in recognition and appreciation to the paraprofessionals working in the Butterfield-Odin School, including: Marge Pankratz, Kim Wentzlaff, Vickie Smith, Mary Oakland, Kathy Crissler, Amy Hall, Autumn Morrow, Kim Cantwell and Cindy Palm.

In the student report, Butterfield-Odin School reported students were responding positively to the Reading Rocks program, which offers prizes to those children who read 250 minutes, 500 minutes, 750 minutes, and 1000 minutes a month. Prizes include gift certificates to a chance for $100 dollars by a drawing.

Page 2 of 2 - There was math testing in the Butterfield-Odin school Wednesday, Jan. 23, in preparation for the statewide academic progress tests. The school board responded positively to the idea of testing, saying they like the idea that kids can do these practice tests.

“We did it last year and it helped a lot,” said Shellum.

The Butterfield-Odin School Board made plans to speak about a few topics in the next meeting which will be Feb. 19, at 5:30 p.m. Topics will include:

A step one increase in wages for substitute non-certified employees.

A move to Kevin Rupp as school attorney ­– he is the attorney most familiar with the district and has recently moved from Ratliff to his own law firm.

After prom concerns – there is no one in charge of the program and a fish fry has been tentatively scheduled.

Opening the gym for a volleyball camp.

By Tyson HillNews Writer - St. James PlaindealerTwitter: @plaindlrTysonEmail: plaindlr@stjamesnews.com

St. James Plaindealer - St. James, MN

By Tyson HillNews Writer - St. James PlaindealerTwitter: @plaindlrTysonEmail: plaindlr@stjamesnews.com